February 2022 Tangletown Neighborhood Association Board Meeting Minutes
Pat Collins, Dirk Nicholson, Jon DeJong, Lauren Kramer, Dan Treinen, Kyle Goldschmidt, Will Young, Scott Massey, Kelly Hanson, Nancy, Heather Grovum, Lori Gubrud
Call to order 7:04 pm
7:05- January meeting minutes – Dirk motions to approve, Lori seconds, motion is approved.
Emily Koski
Saturday April 16th
Victim Witness Division will be available for the following on-site services:
Scheduled in-person meetings with an individual’s assigned advocate, and
Attending scheduled court hearings, with access being permitted on a case by case basis.
Please be advised that remote services are still offered. To access remote services for adult felony cases, call (612) 348-4003; for juvenile felony cases, call (612) 348-7916.
https://www.hennepinattorney.org/get-help/crime/victim-services
The Nicolette Bridge is going to be under construction during the 2022 calendar year.
Treasurer update- $642 revenue from smores and donations from Winterfest
Results from the board engagement survey:
-There is interest in starting a conversation about how to have better engagement and onboarding.
-When and if are we going to start meeting in person?
John proposes that we have an anonymous poll about people’s comfortability with meeting in person.
Heather moves to start a Slack account for continued communication between meetings. Lori seconds the motion. All in favor motion approved.
Addressing issues with attendance, engagement, and involvement in events.
-Do we want to have a conversation about flexibility with meeting dates at the annual meeting?
-Could we move dates when the meeting lands on a holiday weekend?
-How can we better reach out to our renter population?
Dirk responded that we are hiring door knockers to do outreach at rental properties in the warmer months.
Council member Kowski is willing to work toward collaboration with rental property owners for community engagement.
Will presented the difference in bylaw language. The changes that will be implemented going forward would be creating a forum for voting if there are more candidates than there are open seats on the board. We need to pass a resolution for people to vote who are not in attendance for the voting meeting. New proposed language:
Section 4.04 Election:
Board members will be elected within one week of the date of the annual meeting.
- Nominations for Board membership may be made before or at the annual meeting. Nominations may be made by either the candidate or by another member. TNA will make efforts to provide candidate information to membership in advance of the annual meeting for those who are nominated before the meeting.
- A “contested election” occurs when more candidates are nominated than available seats exist on the board. In a contested election, an alternative voting method will be provided in addition to in-person voting at the annual meeting. The alternative method and process will be determined by the board at the board meeting before the annual meeting.
- Positions will be filled by the candidates receiving the largest number of votes. Any ties will be broken using a coin toss by a non-candidate.
Lori moves to approve the motion. Dirk seconds. All in favor, motion approved.
Dirk presented information surrounding merging neighborhood boards. This may potentially become a South Nicolett coalition of neighborhoods. Boards may contain a certain number of members from each neighborhood, with committees forming between all members. 501c3 could be merged as a way to decrease costs. Kingfield and Lyndale have shown interest in the merge. Windom did not seem to have as much interest in a merger.
This may be integral to the survival of neighborhood associations. Deadline for this application is February 28th. Approval from the board is needed. The idea behind applying for funds this year is that there is scarcity of funds. We are unsure of the availability of funds in the future. In the event that we did not merge, we would be able to return the funds to the city.
Heather moves to move forward with the letter of intent to move forward with the grant. Kyle seconds. All in favor, motion approved.
Fundraising Update (Lauren)
44 individual donors so far (excluding board), $1985 raised on GiveMN, $300 in checks, $1400 in Paypal (this includes board match)
There is an ask for board members to be giving leaders.We need help with:
1. Thank-you notes
2. Entering donations in Salesforce
3. Direct asks; We are asking each board member to ask 5 people who would be willing to donate to the TNA. We are asking for each person to add 5 people to the chat so that we can follow up on those leads. (Sally will double check to make sure they haven’t already donated.) Lauren will follow up with specific language for donation requests.
Livability and Engagement Committee (Jon)
Winterfest was a great success, 200-250 people in attendance. $642 was raised from s’mores suggested donations.
Environmental Committee (Pat)
We are working on hosting a virtual solar information event on April 21st at 7pm. Three volunteers to speak: Doug Schumacher from MN renewables energy society. Frank Jossi, MN energy, Kyle from MN climate action.
Low waste cooking event with Liz Mullen, from Chow Girls had 67 in attendance, great engagement with participants.
March 31st 7pm Recycling made easy, Andrea Seigel to host.
Discussion of Tech Dump event in the fall, TBD if other neighborhood associations will be partnering.
Compost pick up event, partnering with the spring spruce up
The committee is hoping to partnering with Kingfield Neighborhood on Lawns to Legumes project. If we receive the grant, we will create a pollinator friendly corridor that will encourage the growth of native species and growth of endangered bee populations.
Building Land Use and Housing (Dirk)
Coordinating with Environmental committee surrounding the Spring Spruce up.
The sign for the Washburn Watertower is being produced. Unveiling of the sign event will tentatively be happening in June, with the hope that the sign itself will be installed earlier than this.
Survey pertaining to transportation was well responded, however, it was not a representative sample.
Equity (Dirk)
Discussion of Land acknowledgement in Tangletown. TOPA – Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Legislation that could pass to approve opportunities for renters to purchase property. TNA to decide on whether or not we will take a position. Really how this would practically come into play, the Equity Committee would be able to take a position. I.E. If we are in a meeting with Council Member Koski, we would be able to say that the TNA committee is in favor but that they would communicate that the board has not yet formalized a decision. They would ask the organizer or presenter to join a meeting to provide more detailed information to the board so that an informed decision could be made.
Adjourn 8:48pm